Foam-reinforcement technologies (Sting-Tech™) for mechanically reinforcing components made of foamed plastics materials are known from the prior art. The reinforcement can be carried out for example using reinforcement strands composed of bundled carbon fibers or carbon-fiber filaments, or of carbon fibers or carbon fiber filaments otherwise arranged in a three-dimensional manner. For this purpose, reinforcement strand loops formed from the reinforcement strand are pulled through the component made of the foamed plastics material by needles. Subsequently, the two sides of the for example planar component are provided with cover layers. Components of this kind have an extraordinarily high mechanical resistance combined with a low weight and, at the same time, have an outstanding impact tolerance by comparison with other core structures. Nowadays, components of this kind comprising reinforced foamed plastics materials can be produced by single-needle and multi-needle systems using suitable reinforcement strands cost-effectively and in a manner suitable for large-scale production.
Multi-needle systems of this type currently use an individual reinforcement strand as the model for all the needles or the “grippers”. As a result, it is not necessary to have a separate reinforcement strand available for each individual needle, which substantially simplifies construction. Under certain conditions, such as in the case of an overly high internal stress of the reinforcement strand, overly short processing times or an overly high sensitivity of the reinforcement strand used, however, it is no longer possible to use a single reinforcement strand to form loops.